inifiles(3)

NAME

Config::IniFiles - A module for reading .ini-style config
uration files.

SYNOPSIS

use Config::IniFiles;
my $cfg = new Config::IniFiles( -file =>  "/path/configfile.ini" );
print  "We  have parm " . $cfg->val( 'Section', 'Parameter' ) . "."
      if $cfg->val( 'Section', 'Parameter' );

DESCRIPTION

Config::IniFiles provides a way to have readable configu
ration files outside your Perl script. Configurations can
be imported (inherited, stacked,...), sections can be
grouped, and settings can be accessed from a tied hash.

FILE FORMAT

INI files consist of a number of sections, each preceded
with the section name in square brackets. The first nonblank character of the line indicating a section must be a
left bracket and the last nonblank character of a line
indicating a section must be a right bracket. The charac
ters making up the section name can be any symbols at all.
However section names must be unique.

Parameters are specified in each section as Name=Value. Any spaces around the equals sign will be ignored, and the value extends to the end of the line. Parameter names are localized to the namespace of the section, but must be unique within a section.: [section]
Parameter=Value
Both the hash mark (#) and the semicolon (;) are comment characters. Lines that begin with either of these charac ters will be ignored. Any amount of whitespace may pre ceed the comment character.
Multiline or multi-valued parameters may also be defined ala UNIX "here document" syntax:: Parameter=<<EOT
value/line 1
value/line 2
EOT
You may use any string you want in place of "EOT". Note that what follows the "<<" and what appears at the end of the text MUST match exactly, including any trailing whitespace.

USAGE -- Object Interface

Get a new Config::IniFiles object with the new method:: $cfg = Config::IniFiles->new( -file => "/path/config; file.ini" );
$cfg = new Config::IniFiles -file => "/path/config; file.ini";
Optional named parameters may be specified after the con
figuration file name. See the new in the METHODS section, below.
Values from the config file are fetched with the val method:: $value = $cfg->val('Section', 'Parameter');
If you want a multi-line/value field returned as an array, just specify an array as the receiver:: @values = $cfg->val('Section', 'Parameter');

METHODS

new ( [-option=>value ...] )

Returns a new configuration object (or "undef" if the con
figuration file has an error). One Config::IniFiles
object is required per configuration file. The following
named parameters are available:

-file filename: Specifies a file to load the parameters from.
This 'file' may actually be any of the following
things:

1) a simple filehandle, such as STDIN
2) a filehandle glob, such as *CONFIG
3) a reference to a glob, such as ONFIG
4) an IO::File object
5) the pathname of a file; If this option is not specified, (i.e. you are
creating a config file from scratch) you must
specify a target file using SetFileName in order
to save the parameters.
-default section: Specifies a section to be used for default val
ues. For example, if you look up the "permis
sions" parameter in the "users" section, but
there is none, Config::IniFiles will look to
your default section for a "permissions" value
before returning undef.
-reloadwarn 0|1: Set -reloadwarn => 1 to enable a warning message
(output to STDERR) whenever the config file is
reloaded. The reload message is of the form:

PID <PID> reloading config file <file> at

YYYY.MM.DD HH:MM:SS; Default behavior is to not warn (i.e. -reload
warn => 0).
-nocase 0|1: Set -nocase => 1 to handle the config file in a
case-insensitive manner (case in values is pre
served, however). By default, config files are
case-sensitive (i.e., a section named 'Test' is
not the same as a section named 'test'). Note
that there is an added overhead for turning off
case sensitivity.
-import object: This allows you to import or inherit existing
setting from another Config::IniFiles object.
When importing settings from another object,
sections with the same name will be merged and
parameters that are defined in both the imported
object and the -file will take the value of
given in the -file.; If a -default section is also given on this
call, and it does not coincide with the default
of the imported object, the new default section
will be used instead. If no -default section is given, then the default of the imported object
will be used.
val ($section, $parameter)
Returns the value of the specified parameter ($parameter) in section $section, returns undef if no section or no parameter for the given section section exists.
If you want a multi-line/value field returned as an array, just specify an array as the receiver:: @values = $cfg->val('Section', 'Parameter');
setval ($section, $parameter, $value, [ $value2, ... ])
Sets the value of parameter $parameter in section $section to $value (or to a set of values). See below for methods to write the new configuration back out to a file.
You may not set a parameter that didn't exist in the orig
inal configuration file. setval will return undef if this is attempted. See newval below to do this. Otherwise, it
returns 1.
newval($section, $parameter, $value [, $value2, ...])
Assignes a new value, $value (or set of values) to the parameter $parameter in section $section in the configura tion file.
delval($section, $parameter)
Deletes the specified parameter from the configuration file
ReadConfig
Forces the configuration file to be re-read. Returns undef if the file can not be opened, no filename was defined (with the "-file" option) when the object was constructed, or an error occurred while reading.
If an error occurs while parsinf the INI file the @Con fig::IniFiles::errors array will contain messages that might help you figure out where the problem is in the file.
Sections
Returns an array containing section names in the configu ration file. If the nocase option was turned on when the config object was created, the section names will be returned in lowercase.
SectionExists ( $sect_name )
Returns 1 if the specified section exists in the INI file, 0 otherwise (undefined if section_name is not defined).
AddSection ( $sect_name )
Ensures that the named section exists in the INI file. If the section already exists, nothing is done. In this case, the "new" section will possibly contain data already.
If you really need to have a new section with no parame ters in it, check that the name that you're adding isn't in the list of sections already.
DeleteSection ( $sect_name )
Completely removes the entire section from the configura tion.
Parameters ($sect_name)
Returns an array containing the parameters contained in the specified section.
Groups
Returns an array containing the names of available groups.
Groups are specified in the config file as new sections of the form: [GroupName MemberName]
This is useful for building up lists. Note that parame ters within a "member" section are referenced normally (i.e., the section name is still "Groupname Membername", including the space) - the concept of Groups is to aid people building more complex configuration files.
SetGroupMember ( $sect )
Makes sure that the specified section is a member of the appropriate group.
Only intended for use in newval.
RemoveGroupMember ( $sect )
Makes sure that the specified section is no longer a mem ber of the appropriate group. Only intended for use in DeleteSection.
GroupMembers ($group)
Returns an array containing the members of specified $group. Each element of the array is a section name. For example, given the sections: [Group Element 1]
...; [Group Element 2]
...
GroupMembers would return ("Group Element 1", "Group Ele ment 2").
WriteConfig ($filename)
Writes out a new copy of the configuration file. A tempo
rary file (ending in .new) is written out and then renamed
to the specified filename. Also see BUGS below.
RewriteConfig
Same as WriteConfig, but specifies that the original con figuration file should be rewritten.
SetFileName ($filename)
If you created the Config::IniFiles object without ini tialising from a file, or if you just want to change the name of the file to use for ReadConfig/RewriteConfig from now on, use this method.
Returns $filename if that was a valid name, undef other wise.
SetSectionComment($section, @comment)
Sets the comment for section $section to the lines con tained in @comment. Each comment line will be prepended with "#" if it doesn't already have a comment character (ie: if $line !~ m/^[#;]/)
To clear a section comment, use DeleteSectionComment ($section)
GetSectionComment ($section)
Returns a list of lines, being the comment attached to section $section. In scalar context, returns a string con taining the lines of the comment separated by newlines.
The lines are presented as-is, with whatever comment char acter was originally used on that line.
DeleteSectionComment ($section)
Removes the comment for the specified section.
SetParameterComment ($section, $parameter, @comment)
Sets the comment attached to a particular parameter.
Any line of @comment that does not have a comment charac ter will be prepended with "#".
GetParameterComment ($sect, $parm)
Gets the comment attached to a parameter.
DeleteParameterComment ($sect, $parm)
Deletes the comment attached to a parameter.
GetParameterEOT ($section, $parameter)
Accessor method for the EOT text (in fact, style) of the specified parameter. If any text is used as an EOT mark, this will be returned. If the parameter was not recorded using HERE style multiple lines, GetParameterEOT returns undef.
SetParameterEOT ($section, $EOT)
Accessor method for the EOT text for the specified parame ter. Sets the HERE style marker text to the value $EOT. Once the EOT text is set, that parameter will be saved in HERE style.
To un-set the EOT text, use DeleteParameterEOT ($section, $parameter).
DeleteParameterEOT ($sect, $parm)
Removes the EOT marker for the given section and parame ter. When writing a configuration file, if no EOT marker is defined then "EOT" is used.
Delete
Deletes the entire configuration file in memory.

USAGE -- Tied Hash

tie $ini, 'Config::IniFiles', (-file=>$filename, [-option=>value ...] )

Using "tie", you can tie a hash to a Config::IniFiles object. This creates a new object which you can access
through your hash, so you use this instead of the new
method. This actually creates a hash of hashes to access
the values in the INI file. The options you provide
through "tie" are the same as given for the new method,
above.

Here's an example:: use Config::IniFiles;; my %ini
tie %ini, 'Config::IniFiles', ( -file => "/path/config; file.ini" );; print "We have $ini{Section}{Parameter}." if $ini{Sec; tion}{Parameter};
Accessing and using the hash works just like accessing a regular hash and many of the object methods are made available through the hash interface.
For those methods that do not coincide with the hash paradigm, you can use the Perl "tied" function to get at the underlying object tied to the hash and call methods on that object. For example, to write the hash out to a new ini file, you would do something like this:: tied( %ini )->WriteConfig( "/newpath/newconfig.ini" )
die "Could not write settings to new file.";; $val = $ini{$section}{$parameter}; Returns the value of $parameter in $section.; Because of limitations in Perl's tie implementation, mul
tiline values accessed through a hash will always be
returned as a single value with each line joined by the
default line separator ($. To break them apart you can
simple do this:

@lines = split( "$; $ini{$section}{$parameter} = $value;; Sets the value of $parameter in $section to $value.; To set a multiline or multiv-alue parameter just assign an
array reference to the hash entry, like this:

$ini{$section}{$parameter} = [$value1, $value2, ...];; If the parameter did not exist in the original file, it
will be created. However, Perl does not seem to extend
autovivification to tied hashes. That means that if you
try to say

$ini{new_section}{new_paramters} = $val;; and the section 'new_section' does not exist, then Perl
won't properly create it. In order to work around this you
will need to create a hash reference in that section and
then assign the parameter value. Something like this
should do nicely:

$ini{new_section} = {};
$ini{new_section}{new_paramters} = $val;; %hash = %{$ini{$section}}; Using the tie interface, you can copy whole sections of
the ini file into another hash. Note that this makes a
copy of the entire section. The new hash in no longer tied
to the ini file, In particular, this means -default and
-nocase settings will not apply to %hash.; $ini{$section} = {}; %{$ini{$section}} = %parameters;; Through the hash interface, you have the ability to
replace the entire section with a new set of parameters.
This call will fail, however, if the argument passed in
NOT a hash reference. You must use both lines, as shown
above so that Perl recognizes the section as a hash refer
ence context before COPYing over the values from your
%parameters hash.; delete $ini{$section}{$parameter}; When tied to a hash, you can use the Perl "delete" func
tion to completely remove a parameter from a section.; delete $ini{$section}; The tied interface also allows you to delete an entire
section from the ini file using the Perl "delete" func
tion.; %ini = ();; If you really want to delete all the items in the ini
file, this will do it. Of course, the changes won't be
written to the actual file unless you call RewriteConfig on the object tied to the hash.; Parameter names; my @keys = keys %{$ini{$section}}
while (($k, $v) = each %{$ini{$section}}) {...}
if( exists %{$ini{$section}}, $parameter ) {...}; When tied to a hash, you use the Perl "keys" and "each"
functions to iteratively list the parameters ("keys") or
parameters and their values ("each") in a given section.; You can also use the Perl "exists" function to see if a
parameter is defined in a given section.; Note that none of these will return parameter names that
are part if the default section (if set), although access
ing an unknown parameter in the specified section will
return a value from the default section if there is one.; Section names; foreach( keys %ini ) {...}
while (($k, $v) = each %ini) {...}
if( exists %ini, $section ) {...}; When tied to a hash, you use the Perl "keys" and "each"
functions to iteratively list the sections in the ini
file.; You can also use the Perl "exists" function to see if a
section is defined in the file.

DIAGNOSTICS

@Config::IniFiles::errors

Contains a list of errors encountered while parsing the
configuration file. If the new method returns undef,
check the value of this to find out what's wrong. This
value is reset each time a config file is read.

BUGS

� The output from [Re]WriteConfig/OutputConfig might not: be as pretty as it can be. Comments are tied to what
ever was immediately below them. And case is not pre
served for Section and Parameter names if the -nocase
option was used.
� No locking is done by [Re]WriteConfig. When writing: servers, take care that only the parent ever calls
this, and consider making your own backup.

Data Structure

Note that this is only a reference for the package main tainers - one of the upcoming revisions to this package will include a total clean up of the data structure.: $iniconf->{cf} = "config_file_name"
->{startup_settings} = orginal_object_parameters
->{firstload} = 0
->{nocase} = 0
->{reloadwarn} = 0
->{sects} = @sections
->{sCMT}{$sect} = @comment_lines
->{group}{$group} = @group_members
->{parms}{$sect} = @section_parms
->{EOT}{$sect}{$parm} = "end of text string"
->{pCMT}{$sect}{$parm} = @comment_lines
->{v}{$sect}{$parm} = $value OR @values

AUTHOR and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The original code was written by Scott Hutton. Then han
dled for a time by Rich Bowen (thanks!), It is now managed
by Jeremy Wadsack, with many contributions from various
other people.

In particular, special thanks go to (in roughly chronolog
ical order):

Bernie Cosell, Alan Young, Alex Satrapa, Mike Blazer,
Wilbert van de Pieterman, Steve Campbell, Robert Konigs
berg, Scott Dellinger, R. Bernstein, Jeremy Wadsack,
Daniel Winkelmann, Pires Claudio, and Adrian Phillips.

Geez, that's a lot of people. And apologies to the folks
who were missed.

If you want someone to bug about this, that would be:: Jeremy Wadsack <dgsupport at wadsack-allen dot; com>
If you want more information, or want to participate, go to:: http://sourceforge.net/projects/config-inifiles/
Please send bug reports to con fig-inifiles-bugs@lists.sourceforge.net
Development discussion occurs on the mailing list con fig-inifiles-dev@lists.sourceforge.net, which you can sub scribe to by going to the project web site (link above).
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

Change log

$Log: IniFiles.pm,v $
Revision 2.27 2001/12/20 16:03:49 wadg
- Fixed bug introduced in new valid file check where
';' comments in first lines were not considered valid - Rearranged some tests to put them in the proper
files (case and -default) - Added more comment test to cover more cases - Fixed first two comments tests which weren't doing
anything
Revision 2.26 2001/12/19 22:20:50 wadg #481513 Recognize badly formatted files
Revision 2.25 2001/12/12 20:44:48 wadg Update to bring CVS version in synch
Revision 2.24 2001/12/07 10:03:06 wadg 222444 Ability to load from arbitrary source
Revision 2.23 2001/12/07 09:35:06 wadg Forgot to include updates t/test.ini
Revision 2.22 2001/12/06 16:52:39 wadg Fixed bugs 482353,233372. Updated doc for new mgr.
Revision 2.21 2001/08/14 01:49:06 wadg Bug fix: multiple blank lines counted as one Patched README change log to include recent updates
Revision 2.20 2001/06/07 02:49:52 grail: - Added checks for method parameters being defined
- fixed some regexes to make them stricter
- Fixed greps to make them consistent through the; code (also a vain
attempt to help my editors do syntax colouring

properly); - Added AddSection method, replaced chunk of Read; Config with AddSection
- Added case handling stuff to more methods
- Added RemoveGroupMember
- Made variable names more consistent through OO; methods
- Restored Unix EOLs
Revision 2.19 2001/04/04 23:33:40 wadg Fixed case sensitivity bug
Revision 2.18 2001/03/30 04:41:08 rbowen Small documentation change in IniFiles.pm - pod2* was
choking on misplaces =item tags. And I regenerated the README The main reason for this release is that the MANIFEST
in the 2.17 version was missing one of the new test suite files, and that is
included in this re-release.
Revision 2.17 2001/03/21 21:05:12 wadg Documentation edits
Revision 2.16 2001/03/21 19:59:09 wadg 410327 -default not in original; 233255 substring pa
rameters
Revision 2.15 2001/01/30 11:46:48 rbowen Very minor documentation bug fixed.
Revision 2.14 2001/01/08 18:02:32 wadg [Bug #127325] Fixed proken import; changelog; moved
Revision 2.13 2000/12/18 07:14:41 wadg [Bugs# 122441,122437] Alien EOLs and OO delete method
Revision 2.12 2000/12/18 04:59:37 wadg [Bug #125524] Writing multiline of 2 with tied hash
Revision 2.11 2000/12/16 12:53:13 grail [BUG #122455] Problem with File Permissions
Revision 2.10 2000/12/13 17:40:18 rbowen Updated version number so that CPAN will stop being
angry with us.
Revision 1.18 2000/12/08 00:45:35 grail Change as requested by Jeremy Wadsack, for Bug 123146
Revision 1.17 2000/12/07 15:32:36 grail Further patch to duplicate sections bug, and replace
ment of repeated values handling code.
Revision 1.14 2000/11/29 11:26:03 grail Updates for task 22401 (no more reloadsig) and 22402
(Group and GroupMember doco)
Revision 1.13 2000/11/28 12:41:42 grail Added test for being able to add sections with wierd
names like section|version2
Revision 1.11 2000/11/24 21:20:11 rbowen Resolved SourceForge bug #122445 - a parameter should
be split from its value on the first = sign encountered, not on
the last one. Added test suite to test this, and put test case in
test.ini
Revision 1.10 2000/11/24 20:40:58 rbowen Updated MANIFEST to have file list of new files in t/ Updated IniFiles.pm to have mention of sourceforge
addresses, rather than rcbowen.com addresses Regenerated README from IniFiles.pm
Revision 1.9 2000/11/23 05:08:08 grail Fixed documentation for bug 122443 - Check that INI
files can be created from scratch.
Revision 1.1.1.1 2000/11/10 03:04:01 rbowen Initial checkin of the Config::IniFiles source to
SourceForge
Revision 1.8 2000/10/17 01:52:55 rbowen Patch from Jeremy. Fixed "defined" warnings.
Revision 1.7 2000/09/21 11:19:17 rbowen Mostly documentation changes. I moved the change log
into the POD rather than having it in a separate Changes file. This al
lows people to see the changes in the Readme before they download the mod
ule. Now I just need to make sure I remember to regenerate the Readme
every time I do a commit.
1.6 September 19, 2000 by JW, AS * Applied several patches submitted to me by Jeremy
and Alex. * Changed version number to the CVS version number,
so that I won't have to think about changing it ever again. Big ver
sion change should not be taken as a huge leap forward.
0.12 September 13, 2000 by JW/WADG * Added documentation to clarify autovivification is
sues when creating new sections * Fixed version number (Oops!)
0.11 September 13, 2000 by JW/WADG * Applied patch to Group and GroupMembers functions
to return empty list when no groups are present (submitted by John
Bass, Sep 13)
0.10 September 13, 2000 by JW/WADG * Fixed reference in POD to ReWriteFile. changes to
RewriteConfig * Applied patch for failed open bug submitted by
Mordechai T. Abzug Aug 18 * Doc'd behavior of failed open * Removed planned SIG testing from test.pl as SIGs
have been removed * Applied patch from Thibault Deflers to fix bug in
parameter list when a parameter value is undef
0.09 Hey! Where's the change log for 0.09?
0.08 2000-07-30 Adrian Phillips <adrianp@powertech.no>
* test.pl: Fixed some tests which use $ and made
those that try to check a non existant val check against ! defined.
* IniFiles.pm: hopefully fixed use of $ when this is
unset (problems found when running tests with -w). Similar
problem with $/ which can be undefined and trying to return a val
which does not exist. Modified val docs section to indicate a
undef return when this occurs.
0.07 Looks like we missed a change log for 0.07. Bummer.
0.06 Sun Jun 25, 2000 by Daniel Winkelmann * Patch for uninitialized value bug in newval and
setval
0.05 Sun Jun 18, 2000 by RBOW * Added something to shut up -w on VERSIONS * Removed unused variables
0.04 Thu Jun 15 - Fri Jun 16, 2000 by JW/WADG * Added support for -import option on ->new * Added support for tying a hash * Edited POD for grammer, clarity and updates * Updated test.pl file * Fixed bug in multiline/single line output * Fixed bug in default handling with tie interface * Added bugs to test.pl for regression * Fixed bug in {group} vs. {groups} property (first
is valid) * Fixed return value for empty {sects} or
{parms}{$sect} in Sections and Parameters methods
0.03 Thu Jun 15, 2000 by RBOW * Modifications to permit 'use strict', and to get
'make test' working again.
0.02 Tue Jun 13, 2000 by RBOW * Fixed bug reported by Bernie Cosell - Sections, Pa
rameters, and GroupMembers return undef if there are no sec
tions, parameters, or group members. These functions now re
turn () if the particular value is undefined. * Added some contributed documentation, from Alex
Satrapa, explaining how the internal data structure works. * Set up a project on SourceForge. (Not a change, but
worth noting). * Added Groups method to return a list of section
groups.
0.01 Mon Jun 12, 2000 by RBOW Some general code cleanup, in preparation for changes
to come. Put up Majordomo mailing list and sent invita
tion to various people to join it.

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